Miller makes a compelling case laying out what was going on for both presidents when they took office. But the long and short of it is summed up here:

[…] In terms of an historic parallel, the administration finds itself in 1963: Obama faces nearly the same decision that President Lyndon B. Johnson did, when he opted to commit the series of strategic blunders that caused the U.S. to lose in Vietnam.

In 2014, the president’s options are to 1) Withdraw all U.S. forces; 2) Insert Special Forces to embed and fight alongside local forces; or 3) Insert U.S. ground forces to conduct the fighting.

Johnson opted — fatally — for option three, and inserted tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers into Vietnam. From that point on, the fight was American instead of Vietnamese. But Obama doesn’t have to go the same route that Kennedy and Johnson did, and in 2014, has a number of advantages his predecessors did not. He has at his disposal the lessons of Vietnam, the lessons of Afghanistan and the lessons of Iraq. He also has a professional, combat-hardened military with 15 years of counter-insurgency experience.

Rather than take over the war, the president should embed special forces teams with both the Iraqi army and the Syrian rebels to coordinate, lead and direct the fight against ISIS, with Iraqi and Syrian rebel forces doing the bulk of the work. These special forces teams can also call in close-air support to help clear ISIS from the cities the coalition has thus far been unable to rout them from. (MILLER: What It Will Take To Win The War Against The Islamic State)

[…]

And since the Iraqi government is already in place, the U.S. would not have to conduct nation- or state-building in Iraq after the fighting ends.

Sounds like some sage advice to me. Miller continues:

Syria is a more tricky situation, and the Obama administration must decide if it can live with Bashar al-Assad in power, or must find a real workable political solution, which at this point seems unlikely. If the administration chooses to support the removal of Assad, it should learn from the mistakes of the previous administration and realize the costs in terms of blood and treasure.

Finally, once this is done, Obama needs to commit to what he failed to do when he withdrew U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011: train and mentor the Iraqi army until it is able to stand on its own (as the U.S. military advised he do at that time).

If Obama fails to take these steps, ISIS will likely launch a siege against Baghdad that will involve terrorist attacks against civilians to initiate a national sectarian war similar to the one that took place in 2006, when Iraq nearly collapsed. It also runs the risk of turning into a larger regional sectarian war, which will make it harder for Sunni allies currently in the coalition to continue their support for the effort against ISIS, and provide ISIS with a platform to plan and launch attacks against the United States. Domino theory, if you will.

ISIS is on Baghdad’s doorstep, Mr. President, and the time for action is now. Learn the lessons of history. And issue the order– before it’s too late. (Click here to read the rest.

Yes, ISIS is. And we need to do something and soon. Let’s hope Obama comes to his senses and does something more concrete before Baghdad falls, too.

And speaking of terrorists, I just have to add this clip from Megyn Kelly’s show. It is her interview with Major Nidal Hasan’s attorney, John Galligan, and deals with the issue of why he was not labeled a terrorist:

It is so blindingly clear that Nidal Hasan is a radical Islamist terrorist, from his actions at Fort Hood to his letter to the Pope (and Catherine Herridge). That this Administration continues to refer to him as a workplace violencer (ahem), is obscene. Absolutely obscene. Especially since Hasan’s attorney even claims he was not charged under that rubric. So why in the HELL is this Administration still making that false claim? I know, I know – we know why that is – political cover plain and simple.

Oh – and Mr. Galligan also affirms that the Army was WARNED about Hasan and his increasing radicalism. So they bear some responsibility for what happened, no doubt under the guise of “political correctness.”

This is all so aggravating, isn’t it? From Major Hasan to how Obama is dealing with the very real threat of ISIS, it is evident that Barack Obama is nowhere close to being Jack Kennedy.

23 Responses to “Obama Is No Jack Kennedy *Open Thread*”

It is readily apparent that NOTHING is as important to the left as being PC and keeping to their ideology. Twisting the truth doesn’t change it – it only perverts it. The perversions that the Obama Administration continues is appalling.

Sadly, you are right, Marge. Apparently, we are all supposed to think one (their) way, we must not have an original thought of our own, we must toe the line, we must keep our mouths shut lest we offend anyone, we should bend over backwards lest those who hate us hate us more, and on, and on, and on it goes…

I am reading the first book in the Ken Follett trilogy .The Fall of Giants. It is about the gathering storm of WW1 – WW1 – and the beginning of the 1920s.
I feel like i am reading about today. In Russia when Lenin took over and stifled free speech sounds like the left today.
Talking about the Balkans sounds like Crimea today.
Have not started book 2 yet. thought I would read some escape fiction between to rest my mind

The workers said the government short-changed them on their paychecks.

Many facilities were virtually abandoned in the country.
Aljazeera reported:

Hospitals and health care facilities have been affected in Liberia as some nurses and medical professionals staged a walkout demanding better pay and safer working conditions in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus.

Sources told Al Jazeera that several hospitals and clinics were hit by the strike on Monday as health workers abandonded hundreds of patients, demanding higher hazard pay and protective equipment.

Beats the hell out of me. It is just so astonishing that these folks think they can destroy businesses, then DEMAND they be rebuilt. Why? So they can destroy them the next time they are pissed off abt something?

The bigger issue is that these folks think – because Obama and Holder told them so – they are ABOVE the law. It does not apply to them. So they make a martyr out of a thief who broke a police officer’s face. HE was just a little angel, apparently.

All I know is that when it was reported in my local paper the other day that a local was the victim of a strong arm robbery, they did NOT depict the robber as the one wronged.

The lack of responsibility/accountability and the abnormal sense of entitlement is truly astonishing.